Bitcoin Falls Below $78,000 After Fed Chair Warsh Speech

Bitcoin slipped below the $78,000 mark on Friday, erasing most of a weekly gain that had reached double‑digit percentages. The move followed Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s keynote at the Jackson Hole symposium, where he emphasized that inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target and that the central bank still has “work to do.”

Market Reaction

Bitcoin dropped 3.2% in the past 24 hours to $77,802, ending the day 0.5% higher on a seven‑day basis after peaking at $81,479.50 the night before. Ether fell 3.1% to $2,444.32, while Solana and XRP slipped 4.2% and 4.6% respectively. Gold prices fell 2.4%, and U.S. equity indices turned negative, with the S&P 500 down 0.14% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.36%.

Details of the Decline

Bitcoin reached its overnight high of $81,479.50 at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, then fell steadily through Asian and European trading sessions. The speech hour saw a brief dip to $78,432 before a short rebound. By midday Friday, Bitcoin was trading around $77,800, a 4.5% drop from the overnight peak.

Fed Chair’s Remarks

Warsh highlighted that the 12‑month PCE inflation rate sits at 3.7% and the six‑month rate at 4.1%, both above the Fed’s target. He stressed the need for confidence that inflation is moving toward the 2% goal and warned against premature forward guidance. He also noted the importance of monetary aggregates, stating that “money matters” for policy decisions.

Broader Crypto Flow

Despite the price dip, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to attract inflows, adding $242.3 million on Thursday for a weekly total of $1.13 billion. BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for $277.6 million of that flow. Spot Ether ETFs saw $225.8 million in inflows, while Solana ETFs recorded $56.1 million.

DeFi and Stablecoin Metrics

DeFi total value locked stood at $88.96 billion, with Ethereum holding $49.76 billion and Solana $5.90 billion. Stablecoin supply reached $303.97 billion, up 0.8% over the past week.